LVMH’s e-portal prepping for launch

Plus: Sportingbet.com suspended; Alapage deal

By

LizaRoberts

Luxury goods leader LVMH is getting ready to hit the Web in a big way. The company is putting the finishing touches on ELuxury, a portal for the “luxury lifestyle” market set to launch soon -- probably sometime in June.

What’s it all about? The company’s not saying a whole lot yet, but the site is set to sell goods from the huge and growing stable of LVMH companies, including such high-end names as Givenchy, TAG Heuer, Louis Vuitton and Christian Lacroix, as well as makeup brands like Guerlain, BeneFit, Hard Candy and Sephora.

It won’t end there: this week, the company said “many other fine brands” will also join the site. Italian jeweler Bulgari has been named as one possible outside brand. But the big-ticket e-commerce bonanza is likely to be available only in the States, at least at first.

LVMH (LVMHY) has hired a top gun for the venture. Alain Lorenzo, recently the president and chief executive of Parfums Givenchy, has been named president and chief executive of Eluxury.

“LVMH is in the best position in our industry to bring luxury to the Internet,” Lorenzo said. “The company not only has substantial professional and economic resources and a stable of the finest luxury products, but also, through the DFS Group, has valuable relationships and partnerships with many other fine brands.”

SportingBet suspended

Shares in Channel Islands-based tax-free online sports betting site SportingBet.com shares were suspended at the company’s request on Friday, pending an announcement to be made on Monday, May 8, the company said. It gave no details about what that announcement might be.

Before the suspension late Friday morning, Sportingbet shares rose 12 pence, or 8.3 percent, to 144.5 on London’s Ofex, an unregulated over-the-counter exchange for small stocks.

Sportingbet floated last April, and split its shares 10-for-1 in January.

France Telecom sub buys Phenix

France Telecom is actively boosting its e-tailing efforts. Friday, the French phone leader said Alapage.com, a France Telecom (FTE) e-tailing subsidiary specializing in books, CD’s videos and CD-ROMs, bought a majority stake in Phenix Editions, owner of the online bookseller Librissimo.com. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Phenix specializes in digitizing and reproducing books on demand, which enables the publication of small numbers of a particular book. The company has a big business digitizing books for libraries, while its Librissimo unit sells half a million rare, old or out-of-print works on its Web site.

France Telecom said the purchase boosts its e-commerce presence; Phenix Edition said the cash infusion will help the company grow in France and throughout Europe.

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